Feature Request: Make any "move" action a "copy & delete" action for moving messages out of Gmail accounts

[ScriptHippie]

Due to the way Gmail deals with labels internally instead of actual folders, and the way this is imperfectly translated into IMAP access, Gmail accounts have an annoying issue: When moving messages out of Gmail, they are not deleted internally but end up unflagged in the ALL MAIL category. This defies the true purpose of a MOVE, that typically has the intention to not leave a duplicate message behind. There are ways to configure Gmail and Thunderbird so a MOVE actually forces a deletion on Gmail, but there are other undesired implications when changing the default settings for deletions/expunging (which I will not belabor here).

A 2-step workaround for the user is to first COPY messages from Gmail to the destination, and then DELETE the originals on Gmail afterwards. (If messages end up in Gmail's trash that is fine, as the trash can be emptied at some point). The workaround is easily forgotten when dealing with multiple email accounts that are a mix of Gmail & non-Gmail.

This issue does not concern other standard IMAP accounts, where moving works as expected.

One of QuickFolders' main purposes is to help with moving and copying messages. It would be awesome if QuickFolders could assist with this Gmail issue by internally converting any "MOVE" into a "COPY then DELETE". Maybe I am reaching too high here, but that would be a killer feature. Maybe this could be a config setting to switch on/off and hopefully any Gmail account could be detected automatically in the code.

(The similar issue happens for message filters; if this request can be considered, it is also a request for QuickFilters to create rules accordingly)

Of course, this is a feature that best should be provided by Thunderbird itself.

[RealRaven2000]

Of course, this is a feature that best should be provided by Thunderbird itself.

I agree - did you raise a Bug?

It would be awesome if QuickFolders could assist with this Gmail issue by internally converting any "MOVE" into a "COPY then DELETE".

the problem here is that it would need to also implement internal knowledge on the "all mail" folder (And I guess would also need to force you tro subscribed to it - I usually turn this off), yeah so it is very specific. I wonder if it is possible to implement a server side rule to remove mail with the "deleted" label from the "all mail" view instead?

[ScriptHippie]

Of course, this is a feature that best should be provided by Thunderbird itself.

I agree - did you raise a Bug?

I now filed feature request 2017200 for Thunderbird/MailNews Core.

It would be awesome if QuickFolders could assist with this Gmail issue by internally converting any "MOVE" into a "COPY then DELETE".

the problem here is that it would need to also implement internal knowledge on the "all mail" folder (And I guess would also need to force you tro subscribed to it - I usually turn this off), yeah so it is very specific. I wonder if it is possible to implement a server side rule to remove mail with the "deleted" label from the "all mail" view instead?

Hmm, I think this functionality remains agnostic of any ALL MAIL folder subscription or knowledge. If TB or QuickFolders would just do a COPY and then a DELETE, it would not need to know how the DELETE command is actually handled on the backend.

On Gmail, any email in "Trash" or "Spam" cannot exist in ALL MAIL. Trash and Spam are exclusion states, not labels in the usual Gmail sense. So no need to deal with the ALL MAIL category (which serves as an archive).

The undesired behavior with default settings is, in other words, that a MOVE from Gmail actually ends up as archiving on Gmail while it should be a deletion.